The present invention relates to a passivation layer and more particularly a passivation layer for a semiconductor device wherein arsenic is a constituent component of the body of the device.
In the past, passivation layers have been used on the exposed surfaces of semiconductor devices, such as transistors.
It has recently been discovered that passivation layers on electroluminescent semiconductor devices, such as light emitting diodes and lasers have improved the reliability of such devices. Typically in the past, passivatiion layers have been of oxide materials such as silicon dioxide, SiO.sub.2.
However, a problem encountered with semiconductor devices of compounds of elements in Groups III and V of the Periodic Table of Elements, hereinafter III-V compounds and particularly electroluminescent devices, is that oxide passivation layers on bodies of III-V compounds, for example a gallium oxide layer on a gallium arsenide body, have proved to be unstable and do not provide the required passivation function. Therefore it would be most desirable, particularly in the III-V semiconductor device field, to have a passivation layer which is stable and protects the device from undesirable ambient conditions. The passivation layer of the present invention solves this problem for III-V semiconductor devices where arsenic, As, is a constituent component of the device's body.